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<title>trade your heart for bones to know you need to come back home by cloudcloakedwords</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23255338">trade your heart for bones to know you need to come back home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudcloakedwords/pseuds/cloudcloakedwords'>cloudcloakedwords</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Short Drabble, inej comes home</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:42:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>743</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23255338</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudcloakedwords/pseuds/cloudcloakedwords</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>three different ways inej comes home</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>trade your heart for bones to know you need to come back home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>i.<br/>
She is waiting at the window when he limps into his room, his leg throbbing with every step. She is glad to see that his stubborn pride remains, and he has kept his room at the top of the stairs. Everything is still in the same place as it was before she left, and he looks the same, and he takes one look at her and two strides across the room to stand before her.<br/>
</p><p>Kaz reaches towards her, arm outstretched, and Inej thinks that perhaps he is about to engulf her in an one-armed hug in the stiff way that only Kaz can do, but instead, he reaches for the window next to her and pulls it shut, keeping the draft of the Ketterdam winter out.<br/></p>
<p>He only nods at her and says, “You’re back.”<br/></p>
<p>There is no question or overt enthusiasm in his words, but Inej is used to that.<br/></p>
<p>She sees the slight upturn of his lips as he turns his back on her and starts washing up in the basin.</p>
<p>ii.<br/>
It has been a year since The Wraith first set out, and Inej has only made sporadic visits back to the cobble-lined city of kruge and sin. However, the people that have come bearing her name and blessing arrive frequently—stick-thin children and women with matted hair, men missing a limb and young people staring at the city around them with wide eyes.<br/>
Kaz sees them all, and the Crows do not touch them.<br/>
</p><p>They make sure that they do not end up in the pleasure houses or the more unsavory parts of Ketterdam, but other than that, they let them be.<br/></p>
<p>Occasionally, one of them will wander in, asking for a Mr. Kaz Brekker. He makes sure to see every single one of them, sitting them down in a back room, folding his hands expectantly as they squirm in their seats. His reputation has not reached them yet, but the second they step in, they know that they are not dealing with a normal Kerch businessman.<br/></p>
<p>Sometimes they have a flimsy envelope in their hand, never more than a couple of pages thick, and slowly slide it across the table as if it is some holy artifact, and to him, it might as well be. He makes sure to send them on their way with a small pouch of kruge and then goes up to his room to slit the letter open. His limp never seems to stop him from making it up there in record time. Normally, he burns all of his correspondence, but when he finishes reading it, he opens a drawer in his desk and places the letter inside neatly on top of several others all in the same handwriting.</p>
<p>iii.<br/>
It is Inej’s birthday, and Kaz misses her.<br/>
</p><p>Normally he things that birthdays are a waste of time because what more is it than a glorified excuse to celebrate someone’s ability to withstand another three hundred and sixty-five days of this miserable existence? But this day digs in a little deeper—he’s constantly reminded of the fact that Inej Ghafa is nowhere near enough for him to wish her congratulations on making it through all the horrible things she’s lived through. Not that he isn’t reminded of that enough every time he passes through the streets of Ketterdam and thinks about how they used to prowl these streets together, how he didn’t have to watch his back as much because there was someone next to him that he would have trusted with his life.<br/></p>
<p>He has had a long day, and he can feel the pain throbbing in his knee as he walks home. He had to take care of the rather unpleasant job of breaking up another His hand tightens on his cane as his foot catches on a loose cobble, but he keeps his composure. The sun is low in the sky, and he can’t help but wonder if Inej is having a good day—if she has even told her crew about her birthday. He certainly hopes that she has because she deserves to be celebrated.<br/></p>
<p>The steps seem longer than usual today, and Kaz grits his teeth against the pain in his knee. He is tired and missing his best friend and just wants the day to be over.<br/>But when his door swings open, she is there, smiling at him, and he can’t help but smile back.</p>
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